Je parle Francais....un peu

As if learning new Scottish words and adjusting to the Scottish accent wasn't enough language education, Joe and I have been taking French classes through the City of Edinburgh Adult Education programme. It's actually been a lot of fun and I think we've learned quite a bit of French for a 10 week beginner's course.

Here's a small sampling of what I've learned to say in French.

Bonjour. Je m'appelle Amanda. J'ai trente ans. Je suis Americaine mais maintenant j'habite en Ecosse a Edimbourgh. Je suis un assistant social; je travaille avec des enfants avec des problemes de comportement. Je suis marie. Mon mari s'appelle Joe. Il est un etudiante de la theologie et philosophie a l'universite d'Edimbourgh. Nous aimons l'Ecosse mais nous n'aimons pas tous les pluie et vent ici.

We can ask questions reasonably well and are getting the hang of putting our own sentences together. As long as the conversation partner speaks slowly, we can generally get the gist of what is being said. Since we're hoping to take a trip to France next summer-ish, my short term goal is to get by in France using French.

In addition to learning some French, we've met some really nice people in the class. Our class was about 15 or so folks. The students range in age from our age and a bit younger to a man in his 70s and also span several nationalities (e.g., Scottish, English, Spainish, Polish, American). We had a great little party on our last night and it seems that the majority of our class is going to continue on in the course together. Joe is not going to continue, so he can devote more time to his own studies, but I am really looking forward to another semester--both to keep learning French and to continue getting to know my classmates. If I do a course a semester, I should be able to complete all the levels offered here before we move back home. With any luck (and a little effort, I suppose), I'll be blogging in French in a few years' time!